Irrigation Department, we are of opinion that steps should be taken to ensure that the deputy commissioners have the assistance of a competent staff in dealing with them.

IRRIGATION BALUCHISTAN.

IN

294. We have heard two witnesses in regard to the agricultural position in Baluchistan and we are impressed by the testimony which they both gave as to the extent to which agricultural progress in that area must be dependent upon enhanced supplies of water. Since we heard this evidence, we have been informed that the officer who is investigating water control in Waziristan will also examine the possibilities of extending irrigation in Baluchistan. We consider that it is impossible for one officer to carry out, adequately, investigations in areas so extensive and so widely separated as Waziristan and Baluchistan. We, therefore, recommend that an examination of the possibilities of extending irrigation in Baluchistan should be forthwith undertaken by an officer specially selected for that purpose and that he should be assisted by a suitable subordinate staff.

HYDRO-ELECTRIC

DEVELOPMENT.

295. The natural reserves of water power available in certain parts of India, notably in the submontane districts of the Himalayas and in the Western Ghats, including the Nilgiris, are considerable. It is also probable that opportunities exist for obtaining power by utilising falls of a few feet on rivers in the plains, and by the construction of similar falls on canals by a suitable alignment of the canal gradients. As regards canals, we understand that attention is now being paid in new irrigation projects to this source of power, which should certainly not be neglected in view of possible future demands for power both for industrial and agricultural purposes. The possibilities of this source of power have been strikingly illustrated by the success of the hydro-electric scheme carried out by our late colleague, Sir Ganga Ram, at Renala in the Lower Bari Doab Canal Colony of the Punjab, which we visited in February, 1927, where 80,000 acres are irrigated by a six feet fall.

From the agricultural standpoint, electric power has at present two main uses, as a motive power for machinery including pumps, and as a means of obtaining supplies of synthetic nitrogen from the air. Experiments are being conducted with a view to applying electricity on a commercial scale as a stimulus to plant growth. This is a possibility which need hardly be seriously considered at present and, in any event, the power required would probably be insufficient to make generation for this purpose alone economic. The desiderata in all these cases are cheapness and wide diffusion. The circumstances of the Indian cultivator make it improbable that, for a long time to come, if ever, there will be an appreciable demand for electric power for agricultural machinery or that there will be much scope for the use of electricity as a stimulus to plant growth. In paragraph 89, Chapter IV, we have given reasons for doubting whether the manufacture, in this country, of synthetic nitrogen from the air is likely to prove a commercial proposition. In existing conditions, therefore, the immediate openings for electric

power for agricultural purposes are confined to pumping schemes. The experience of other countries suggests that, in the present state of electrical development, power can only be profitably developed for urban and industrial purposes and that its economic use in agriculture must depend upon the availability of a surplus which is not required for these purposes and which would otherwise go to waste. We recognise, however, that the possibility of utilising electricity for the purpose of raising water from wells may make its use profitable in India, otherwise than as a mere surplus of power required for urban and industrial purposes. We have been informed that a considerable development of the industrial use of electric power may be expected in Lahore and Amritsar and their immediate neighbourhood. Such an area as this, we consider, offers the best prospects for testing the agricultural uses to which electric power, surplus to industrial requirements, can be put and we have no doubt that the Government of the Punjab will see that full advantage is taken of this and of any other opportunity which may present itself.

Whilst the development of its hydro-electric schemes is now a matter for which each province is entirely responsible, we consider that, as in the case of irrigation problems, it would be of great value to the provinces if some central organisation existed from which information in regard to hydro-electric developments in India as well as in other countries could be obtained. We recommend, therefore, that the Central Information Bureau, the formation of which we have proposed in paragraph 285 above, should also act as a clearing house of information on hydro-electric matters and that a section of its library should be devoted to literature on the subject. Expert advice in regard to any particular scheme of development can, we think, be best obtained from a firm of consulting engineers of which there are many of recognised eminence. This is a course which, to mention two instances, has been followed in regard to the Yunzalin hydro-electric project for the water supply of Rangoon and the Pykara hydro-electric project in Madras. It should prove less expensive than that of retaining the services of an expert permanently at the headquarters of the Government of India and has the further advantage that it in no way involves any interference with provincial independence in the matter.

As regards the orderly development of hydro-electric schemes throughout India, it is, perhaps, fortunate that the natural centres of hydro-electric development are widely separated and it does not seem probable that problems similar to those which have arisen from the conflicting claims of more than one province to irrigation supplies will here occur. The contingency that when the development of natural sites has made greater progress, questions affecting more than one province may arise cannot, however, be entirely overlooked. If such a situation should occur, the best method of dealing with it would probably be the appointment of an ad hoc committee of experts.

Another contingency which has to be provided against is the premature development of easily accessible sites in the lower reaches of rivers where they debouch from the hills on to the plains. The effect of such

development would be to create vested interests which might ultimately impede the development of sites which may exist further upstream in the recesses of the hills but which have yet to be surveyed. These remote sites may represent sources of power of the greatest importance and no action should be taken which would hinder their ultimate utilisation. We commend this point to the special attention of local governments.

SUMMARY OF CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS.

296. The conclusions and recommendations in this chapter may be summarised as follows:

(1) There should be a periodic revision of the position in regard to all outstanding irrigation projects (paragraph 275).

(2) The relaxation of the financial rules which formerly governed the construction of protective works should furnish a stimulus to the construction of this class of works (paragraph 276).

(3) Further investigation and experiment should be undertaken before a final decision against the sale of water by volume is reached (paragraph 277).

(4) No reduction in the capacity of an outlet should be made in individual cases if it is found that irrigation is done over a larger area than that for which the outlet was designed (paragraph 277).

(5) No change should be made in the agency charged with the distribution of water but the formation of irrigation panchayats should be encouraged (paragraph 278).

(6) The construction and maintenance of minor irrigation works should be entrusted to a special agency (paragraph 279).

(7) The department entrusted with the charge of pumping and boring operations should make detailed investigations into the economics of tube well irrigation and should also carry out a systematic survey of subsoil water supplies (paragraph 280).

(8) Government assistance in regard to the construction of tube wells should be limited to the provision of information, of technical advice and of finance, where required, on the taccavi system and to placing boring equipment and skilled labour at the disposal of the landholder on payment of a moderate fee (paragraph 280).

(9) The system of subsidising tube wells at present in force in the United Provinces should be discontinued (paragraph 280).

(10) Private enterprise in the construction and maintenance of tube wells should not be discouraged by Government competition (paragraph 280).

(11) Pumping and boring operations should be entrusted to the agricultural departments (paragraph 280).

(12) The construction of ordinary wells is essentially a matter for private enterprise, but there are many ways in which the agricultural and irrigation departments can help the landholder (paragraph 281).

(13) In districts where holdings are very small, every effort should be made to encourage the co-operative sinking and working of wells (paragraph 281).

(14) In tracts in which the number of abandoned wells is at all numerous, a special enquiry should be made into the cause of abandonment (paragraph 281).

(15) The extension of irrigation from small streams by means of power driven pumps should be encouraged (paragraph 282).

(16) Closer relations should be established between the agricultural and the irrigation departments (paragraph 283).

(17) Short courses in agriculture for irrigation officers and in irrigation for agricultural officers should be instituted (paragraph 283).

(18) An organisation on the analogy of local railway advisory committees should be established to deal with complaints in regard to irrigation matters (paragraph 284).

(19) A Central Bureau of Information on irrigation matters should be established (paragraph 285).

(20) Frequent conferences of irrigation engineers should be held (paragraph 285).

(21) More attention should be paid to research on irrigation problems in all provinces in which irrigation is of importance (paragraph 287).

(22) There should be the fullest collaboration in such research between the agricultural and irrigation departments (paragraph 287). (23) The assistance of the Indian universities in irrigation research should be enlisted (paragraph 287).

(24) The necessity for a central station for irrigation research has not been established but the work of each provincial station should be reviewed from time to time by a committee appointed by the local government in consultation with the Central Board of Irrigation and the Council of Agricultural Research (paragraph 288).

(25) The interchange between provinces of officers engaged in research on irrigation is desirable (paragraph 288).

(26) Drainage maps should be prepared (paragraph 289).

(27) In view of the importance of the Sukkur Barrage project, the chief revenue and irrigational officers should have ready access to agricultural advice at the headquarters of the Province of Sind. The appointment of a Director of Agriculture with headquarters at Karachi is, therefore, recommended (paragraph 290).

(28) In addition to the station at Sakrand, a chain of subsidiary research stations should be established and there should be a full staff of competent officers for all the stations (paragraph 290).

(29) The question of training agricultural students from Sind at the Lyallpur Agricultural College should Agricultural College should be re-examined (paragraph 290).

(30) The possibility of developing irrigation in parts of Sind not commanded by the Sukkur Barrage project should not be lost sight of (paragraph 290).

(31) The principles which should be adopted in disposing of the areas which will come under irrigation under the Sukkur Barrage project and which are still at the disposal of Government should be determined without delay more especially in regard to the claims of the indigenous cultivators, the manner of allocating the areas and the provision of fuel supplies (paragraph 291).

(32) The Irrigation Department in Bengal should be divided into two entirely separate departments, one to deal with irrigation proper and the other with navigation, embankments and drainage (paragraph 292).

(33) The first duty of the new Irrigation Department should be to formulate a general scheme of irrigation development (paragraph 292). (34) The problems presented by the river systems of Bengal require investigation by a committee of experts (paragraph 292).

(35) The possibility of transferring the district canals in the NorthWest Frontier Province to the charge of the Irrigation Department should be examined (paragraph 293).

(36) An examination of the possibilities of extending irrigation in Baluchistan should be forthwith undertaken (paragraph 294).

(37) The Central Bureau of Information for Irrigation should also deal with matters arising out of hydro-electric development (paragraph 295).

(38) Advice in regard to provincial hydro-electric schemes should be obtained from firms of consulting engineers (paragraph 295).

(39) Should disputes between provinces in any matters arising out of hydro-electric development occur, these should be referred to committees appointed ad hoc (paragraph 295).